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- Ελληνικά
Regarding the issue of the non-renewal of the fixed-term employment of 13 prison guards at the Central Prisons, the Ministry of Justice and Public Order clarifies that, the affected temporary prison guards were offered fixed-term contracts on the basis of a Schedule for the Recruitment of Fixed-term Employees for the needs of the Prisons Department published in the Official Gazette dated 24.09.2021 and which, as explicitly stated in the publication, had a maximum duration of two years. Consequently, the affected persons were aware from the outset that their employment was on a temporary ad hoc basis for a fixed period of time and could not be renewed indefinitely.
The duration of the contracts given to them was six months or less in accordance with the provisions of the relevant legislation.
The Ministry of Justice exhausted every possibility of further extension of their temporary employment, since after the expiry of the Schedule and the expiry of the last contract granted to them under it, it wrote to the Ministry of Finance seeking its approval to grant new final contracts of four months' duration as specified by a relevant Note in the Finance Act.
The Ministry of Finance approved the extension of their employment for a period of only two months i.e. from 1/1/24 to 29/2/24 at the maximum on the express condition that their contracts shall not be converted into open-ended contracts. Therefore, after the expiry of their existing contract, there is no possibility of extending their employment on an ad hoc basis.
It is further noted that the respective circulars for the preparation of the Budget and the Strategic Fiscal Policy Plan contain clear instructions to avoid the possibility of converting fixed-term employees into permanent employees by granting successive contracts with a total duration of more than 30 months.
In any case, the Ministry of Justice and Public Order, recognizing humanitarian and other reasons, has expedited the procedures and published a notice in the Official Gazette on 9/2/2024 for the filling of 87 posts of permanent prison guards, which will expire on 1/3/2024. Affected temporary prison guards have the opportunity to apply for these permanent posts by attending a written Departmental Examination to be conducted in collaboration with the Ministry of Education, Sports and Youth in the coming April. The writings, after consultation, will be corrected expeditiously so that the successful candidates will be appointed to a permanent post in the Civil Service as soon as possible, if selected by the Civil Service Commission.
It is clear that, if the affected persons are successful, permanent civil servant status will offer them clear advantages over their present employment status which will outweigh any loss from the short break in their contracts.
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